Daddy's Little Girl
by Progman
Summary: Korra had always been her father's daughter. Zaheer was well aware of that. When she had been forced to watch, helplessly, as he murdered him, tossing him off of the peak without ceremony and plummeting to certain death, he assumed that it would weaken her resolve. Break her. He could not have been more wrong.


**A/N: This has been on my laptop since Book 3 ended, more or less finished, and I decided that it was interesting enough to share once it was polished a bit. **

**Viacom owns all, etc.**

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Korra was going to die. Her body was tearing itself apart from the inside, contaminated with that nightmare. That silver venom. She knew she was going to die, the Avatar cycle along with her, and that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Even now, with her body writhing and refusing to obey her commands as the pain overwhelmed her, perched atop the a cliff that she'd much rather have shoved into Zaheer's face, she felt it coming. She'd failed. She'd let everyone down.

"You can't fight me and the poison!" Zaheer exclaimed, sounding so sure of his victory.

Of course, knowing that all was lost meant she had absolutely nothing left to lose. There was also one thing that Zaheer had never seemed to grasp.

Korra had always been daddy's little girl.

"You killed my father_," _Korra snarled, forcing herself up on all fours, her eyes only glowing brighter behind her wild hair. She slammed both fists into the earth to force herself to her knees, cracking the very mountain she was on. "_You killed my father."_

"A necessary sacrifice to restore true balance-"

"_YOU KILLED MY FATHER!_"she screamed, rising to her feet as searing flames curled up her arms. Hot embers surrounded her form, nearly as bright as her eyes. She roared at him with all of her rage, spewing forth a raging river of fire from her mouth.

Zaheer, as always, had managed to dodge her attack. He was always doing that. Dodging. A better airbender than she ever could have hoped to be. She summoned another torrent of flame at him, this time generating enough fire to light the sky itself. The clouds were drenched in deep reds and yellows as Korra continued to let her rage fuel and rejuvenate her.

She pushed off with her feet once more, the soles erupting into a jetstream of hellfire as she again gave chase to Zaheer. He was always just a little faster than her. Just a little more nimble. She hated that. Hated him. Hated herself. Her fire grew hotter, stronger, feeding off of her hate.

Somewhere, deep in her dying heart, she knew that drawing firebending from negative energy went against everything her masters had taught her over the years. Fire was supposed to be life and energy, not hatred and rage. It was how the Fire Nation had fallen into madness during the Hundred Years war. At the moment, though, she didn't care. She wouldn't have to care later, anyway.

Slowly, she was gaining on him, tossing massive pillars of rock at him like they were pebbles. She could see a hint of fear in his eyes. He hadn't planned for this. For her to be this strong. She laughed bitterly, loudly. She sounded demonic. She loved it. If she was going to be the last Avatar, she wasn't going to leave any loose ends, and she was going to go out like a legend.

She remembered, herself willingly bound with platinum, watching Zaheer simply _toss _her father off of that peak. As if it didn't even matter. He'd made some quip about the Earth Queen. He was _enjoying _it. She had felt so helpless. So weak. Powerless. Her father had always been invincible, in her eyes. Even when he was nearly executed for treason, it hadn't truly occurred to her that he could _die. _That it was actually possible for her to outlive him. It wasn't right. It wasn't _right. _

_It wasn't right._

Korra's flames grew brighter, once again igniting the sky. She was so close. He flipped around a mountain. She cleaved it in two and launched it at him. He was getting sloppy, she could tell. She'd almost managed to crush him that time. Of course, that time she wasn't trying to. She slashed out her arms, and the entire mountain exploded into thousands and thousands of boulders, each and everyone of them flying toward him at incredible speed.

There were too many for him to dodge, she was sure. He couldn't deflect them all, she knew. All she needed was one clean shot. One glancing blow to slow him down for _a moment. _ That was all it would take. Oh, he tried. Desperately, she could see him bobbing and weaving between them all, deflecting the smaller ones with bursts of air.

"_BE THE LEAF!" _she cackled.

One hit his shoulder, barely. Another made a glancing blow on his side. He'd stumbled, and she was already upon him, simply burning her way through the rocks in her path. She grinned.

Korra caught his arm. She broke it. He tried to kick, she shattered his knee. He screamed. Oh, she had been _waiting _to hear that. Always so calm and composed. She encased him in stone and sent him hurtling toward the corrupted nomad caves. She chased after him, keeping a tight hold on the earth so he couldn't escape.

He crashed into the clearing, nearly crushing the dozens of figures around the area. Korra didn't care who they were. She had to end this. She landed, hard, shattering the earth beneath her feet, and released him from his prison, save for his arms and legs.

She'd made him kneel before her, just as Amon had done long ago.

Korra had one chance. She felt her strength waning quickly. Before Zaheer could react, she threw her chain, the one he'd used to bind her like an animal, around his neck. She grabbed hold of the other end and quickly twisted the entire length around him.

She pulled.

"Korra! Honey, please don't do this! It isn't you!"

Korra snarled at the voice, snapping her head toward the sound as her twitching arms yanked the chain harder. Her vision was distorted and blurred, cracks of light blinding her from within. She saw a man. He was tall and wide. Strong, and wearing blue. His voice was deep and comforting.

Her father.

It wasn't possible. She watched him die. It had to be a trick. A dozen arms were on her, trying to pry her off of Zaheer. She didn't understand. He needed to die. He _deserved _it. Some people just needed killing. She pushed them all back with a quick kick of air.

Except for one. One pair of strong arms still held her like she was his own. He couldn't let go, and she could feel the strain in his arms. "Korra, please. Let him go. You didn't have a choice with my brother, but you do now. Don't go down this path. Not yet." He squeezed harder. "I love you, Korra. It's over. Let him go."

She couldn't just _let him go_, but she knew he was right. Even if it was just his spirit. Or a memory. Or her conscience. Or Raava. Murder, _vengeance,_ in her final moments had tasted so sweet before. Now, it made her feel hollow.

Korra let go and collapsed. Her vision blurred, darkness creeping in from all sides. She wanted to cry, but couldn't. Yet, her body wouldn't let her die, either. No matter how excruciating it was, it wouldn't give up. And she was too weak to finish it.

She gasped for air, feeling something _wrong _lurch out her throat. She coughed violently and felt her body relax, mercifully, leaving the Avatar State. She could die safely, then. That, she decided, was good. Her eyes refocused to find her father, terrified and strong, holding her.

"Dad," she wheezed, a tiny smile forming on her chapped lips.

He hugged her against his chest. "I'm here, Korra," he whispered, his voice breaking. "I'm here."

The last thing she heard was her father crying, and in that moment, as she stared death in its face, the void, she focused on one powerful thought.

_Not today._

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**A/N: Korra igniting the sky is my attempt at mirroring the backdrop of Sozin's Comet during the finale of the original series. The parallels between Aang's battle with Ozai and Korra's with Zaheer are beautiful and overt, but I felt that Korra more or less **_**becoming **_**the comet would have been a cool detail. **

**I know Korra defeating Zaheer on her own undercuts the importance of Jinora and the other airbenders finding strength within themselves, but there's nothing to suggest here that they weren't doing something that Korra simply didn't notice. She wasn't exactly lucid at the time.**

**Hope you enjoyed the read! Reviews are always appreciated. :)**


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